Hope in Dismal Downs
by Wolfie-Dragon
Summary: After learning the secrets of Castle McDuck, Dewey realizes that while he has finally told his brothers the truth, there's still something they should see: The Sphere of Selene. Oneshot


The latest two DuckTales episodes (Castle McDuck and Last Crash of the Sunchaser) gave me a lot of feels, so I wrote this needing some wholesome triplet fluff. Takes place immediately after Secrets of Castle McDuck, so spoilers for that episode.

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"Who built this castle! What was Scrooge like as a kid! What was his favorite colour? Game? Song? Food?! Who designed the McDuck family tartan? Who let- NOOOOOOOOOO!" Webby screamed, pressing her face against the rear window as the castle vanished in the fog.

Dewey wanted to tell her it was gonna be okay, that they'd come back in five years and she'd get all the answers then. But before he could voice any of that, Uncle Scrooge spoke up.

"Launchpad, turn around! We've got room in the car for a book or two."

"Really? Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Webby screamed as Launchpad slammed the brake, narrowly avoiding a cliff as the car turned. The kids were thrown around the back of the van, and Dewey was starting to understand why Uncle Donald was so insistent on always wearing seatbelts.

Webby didn't care about the near-death experience, jumping to the front of the car to hug Scrooge and say more thank you's. Slowly, the fog parted to reveal Castle McDuck once again. The boys fell over each other as Launchpad crashed into the statue, filling the dent he left before. Scrooge's parents were clearly about to go back inside when the resulting bang echoed through the driveway.

"Webby here really wants to learn about our family, so she does want those tomes you were gonna throw away, ma," Scrooge said as he stepped out of the car, closely followed by Webby. Scrooge's mother clapped her hands in delight and ran inside, shouting "I'll only be a minute!" over her shoulder.

Huey and Dewey climbed out the van, shivering from the cold settling in.

"Hah, at least someone here cares about our family," Fergus said, but the venom seemed to be gone from his voice.

"And at least someone wants to tell their descendants what their family has done," Scrooge shot back. Dewey frowned, unsure if they were having an actual argument or not.

"Our family is weird," Louie muttered, staying in the van and grabbing his phone. "Those magic druid stones didn't come with good wifi either."

Huey shook his head, but didn't bring up what the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook said about druid stones as Dewey expected him to.

"Here ya go, sweety! I think that'll last you a while! Here's an autobiography by great aunt Delilah, an overview of all the McDucks, _The Dopefish Lives_ , about the aquatic adventures of Uncle Billy, and of course a photo album of Scrooge's childhood. Even has some pictures of Hortentia!" Scrooge's mother told Webby as she ran back outside with a pile of books.

Dewey saw Webby eyes widen again, and knew she'd be out of it for a while.

"I'm sure she really appreciates these! She just gets… excited!" Dewey said, gently leading a squealing Webby back to the van as Huey took the books.

"Okay, we really have to go now, otherwise we'll be stuck here for the next five years." Scrooge said, waving goodbye to his parents and entering the car.

They drove off again, waving back at the castle disappearing in the fog. Before their great-grandparents were even out of sight Webby was grabbing the books and looking through them as quickly as she could.

"Scrooge wore woolen clothing? He ate haggis once? Great uncle Stuart went to a private school?!" she shouted, eyes moving so fast across the pages it made Dewey dizzy even looking at them.

"Haha, calm down, Webby. We don't want Launchpad to get distracted," Scrooge said, pulling at the steering wheel with his cane when Launchpad turned to look at a picture Webby was holding up. "I'll answer your questions, if you can ask them calmly."

Dewey was very skeptical the girl was capable of that, but she managed to do it, eventually. A few minutes later she was leaning over the front seat, holding up books and asking questions in a loud, but manageable tone.

Light struck Dewey's eyes for a second, and a quick glance showed that it was the Sphere of Selene, lying in his open bag, that had reflected a beam of moonlight piercing the mists. With the adults distracted, Dewey dared to take it out of the bag and get Louie and Huey's attention.

"Remember when we crash-landed on Ittaquack? That wasn't an accident, me and Webby did it on purpose because the goddess Selene has a temple there. She didn't know anything about a spear, but she did give me this," he explained as his brothers sat down next to him, their eyes transfixed to the image on the sphere was showing.

Their mother.

"It turns out Selene was friends with Mom, and this sphere holds her memories of her," he explained, though he didn't think Huey and Louie were really listening anymore. Louie's eyes were wet, and Huey reached out a shaking hand.

"Mom," Huey managed to say, voice cracking. Louie couldn't hide the tears anymore when Dewey swiped the sphere, replacing the image with a different one, of Della running after Storkules.

"How… How many pictures are there?" Huey asked, fingers touching his mother's face. He tried to swipe, but his hand was shaking too much.

"Hundreds," Dewey simply said, leaning back when Louie reached out his own hand. The green sleeve rubbed Huey's arm when Louie's hand steadied his brother's. Together, the two managed to swipe and reveal an image of their mother flying a plane over a Greek temple.

"Should we… Should we show this to Uncle Donald?" Louie eventually asked when pictures of Donald and Della together started appearing.

Dewey suddenly wasn't sure. It was obvious before, when he hid it from his brothers as well, but now… Didn't Donald miss their mother too?

But before he could voice any of that, Huey spoke up first. "Not yet. We gotta find out what the Spear is first. We can use our birth date. Is there anywhere we could find records from that week?" he asked, and Dewey frowned. The archivist in Scrooge's library hadn't been helpful before, but now they had more details about what they wanted. It was worth a shot.

"There's a place. In the Money Bin. We can go there when we're back in Duckburg. Together," Dewey said, placing his hand on the orb. His brothers put their hands over his, gently touching the image of their mother. No words were needed. Dewey knew they were in this together now. No matter what they'd discover, they'd do it as one.

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I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading, and please leave a review with any thoughts or concrit you have =)


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